Children actively engage the people and the objects resident in the places they inhabit. But what children do and what it means for long-term development depend on what those places afford by way of opportunities and challenges. This entry focuses on economic and geographic factors that help determine those opportunities and challenges, with particular attention to how they promote or pose risks for children’s development and learning.

Young children have limited capacity to determine what their surroundings afford by way of supports for productive engagement and positive benefit. Much depends on what caregivers bring to the mix. However, what children derive from their surroundings is not solely a function of the human and social capital connected with caregivers. Bio-ecological theories speak to the wide diversity of ...